Asturias was again yesterday, for the second consecutive day, an inferno of fire, from the border with a Cantabria also lashed by flames to near Galicia, with a central point of the crisis right in the capital, Oviedo, besieged by devastating fire on the Naranco mountain that threatened to spread towards the city. While the president of the community, the socialist Adrián Barbón, spoke of "terrorism" and proclaimed that "Astúria does not burn, they burn it" and the central government was more cautious, the overwhelmed extinguishing services had to cope throughout the day to a hundred spotlights, fanned by the south wind, the hottest, waiting for the predictions to be fulfilled and for the rain to be the relentless extinguishing service during the weekend.
"What I want is to return home as soon as possible, I'm afraid to find what I don't want", said a resident of Valdés, in the western part of the principality, which was yesterday next to Tineo, the most affected by the flames. On the emergency map of an Asturias colored by the colors of the alerts, this area particularly stood out yesterday, with a series of fires that spread from the Cantabrian coast inland.
So far without any data on burnt hectares, or even on destroyed houses, although there are reports that houses, stables and silos have burned, in addition to the figure for the number of active fires, which in the evening was of 96, the other available was that of evicted people, 375, the majority in the western Asturian area.
But the emergency services also had to evacuate neighbors from their homes in Oviedo, on the Naranco mountain and in the neighborhood of Fitoria, so that the flames reached the very gates of the Asturian capital. The videos of the emergency services and individuals show the apocalyptic testimony of the night from Thursday to Friday and of yesterday's day in the mountain, on the lap of which the city is located. Out-of-control tongues of fire engulfed eucalyptus trees and hedges while fire services tried to protect homes and neighbors.
The president of the principality emphasized yesterday that the essential task was to "save lives". "This is the most similar to what we experienced during the pandemic", he declared. Adrián Barbón insisted throughout the day on his message about criminal intent. "There is real terrorism, because there is no other way to explain why Naranco, so close to Oviedo, has been set on fire, or why the area around Corporal Noval's barracks is being set on fire", he declared
Instead, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who traveled to Asturias, opted for caution, and alluded to climate change, although he pointed out that the origin of the fires From China, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, stated that if it is confirmed that there were people who caused the fires deliberately, their behavior "will not go unpunished".
The crisis in Asturias in 2023, with its extension also in Cantabria, after a few days of exceptionally high temperatures on the Cantabrian ledge at this time of the year, recalls in an almost mimetic way that of Galicia in October 2017, with the difference that in the Galician case there were fatalities, something that did not happen this time. It was a very fast, unexpected, explosive phenomenon, in exceptional weather conditions, caused by the remnants of a tropical storm. They burned nearly 50,000 hectares in one weekend, something unheard of in this century. And as it had never happened before, the flames entered the largest city in Galicia, in Vigo, while the then president of the Xunta, the popular Alberto Núñez Feijóo, spoke of a terrorism of which nothing was ever heard again .
Both October and March are not part of the usual fire season in the north of the Peninsula, which are concentrated in the summer and the weeks before and after. So, the extinguishing devices are not at full capacity. And recently a new type of fire has appeared, much more explosive and uncontrolled.
